Dragon Head: We're getting closer to finding out what that's supposed to mean

I'm actually getting caught up on series like this, which is cool. Only two more volumes to go to get caught up with what's been released in the U.S., although volume 8 is supposed to come out in early October. I'm slowly gaining ground.

Dragon Head, volume 5
By Minetaro Mochizuki



When we left our characters at the end of the previous volume, they were in a helicopter, barely escaping a raging firestorm. More bad shit happens to them in this volume, as they struggle to survive in a disaster-ravaged landscape, and maybe even find out what the hell happened. We actually get some hints about the latter, but it's almost irrelevant when the characters are fighting to stay alive in a world gone mad.

For those who aren't familiar with the series, it's a nice ground-level view of the apocalypse, in the style that I like so much. Rather than concentrating on events, this series is all about character; the first two volumes consisted of just three (living) characters inside a collapsed train tunnel, and the madness that began to consume them in a state of perpetual darkness and decay. Interestingly, this volume shifts the main point of view from Teru, the boy, to Ako, the girl. Teru was wounded in the last volume, and now Ako is trying to procure the medicine to save his life. As you can imagine, in a wrecked world like this, pharmaceuticals are not easy to come by. She and the two remaining soldiers manage to put their helicopter down in what seems like a deserted area, and they meet a middle-aged woman who helps them out. She's the first adult we see after the disaster, or the first middle-aged one anyway; the soldiers seem like they're in their early twenties. She relates the story of her experiences during the "events", when she had traveled out of the country and into a nearby fishing town. She saw a sort of bright light in the sky, and then there was a big earthquake; then people noticed that there was no water in the ocean. Apparently, something happened to vaporize all the water nearby, which led to a huge tsunami when the ocean rushed back in to fill the gap. This destroyed most everything, and chaos ensued among those who were left. She witnessed people fighting savagely over supplies:



Like much of the human interaction in this series, these scenes feel "off", like something is just wrong. I still think something is going to be revealed about why this sort of thing is happening. Or maybe Mochizuki is just very cynical, believing that humanity will revert to thier worst natural impulses when faced with a world-ending situation like this, rather than working together for the benefit of all. Who knows, maybe he's right.

The lady also mentions seeing people silently evacuate down the road, in another display of strange behavior. Whether there's a supernatural/psychological/other explanation for this or not, it's still pretty damned creepy.

With the helicopter out of fuel and in need of repair, Ako and the nasty soldier Nimura decide to make the trek to a nearby village on foot, in order to retrieve medicine and supplies. It looks like this trip might take them the next few volumes to finish, since they encounter trouble on the way, along with more freaky stuff that might or might not have to do with the disaster:



I expect this guy will play a major part in the future, since he's the one who utters the series' title. Plus, he's on the cover of the next volume.

It's very a intense book, with near-constant life-threatening situations, and a very effective feeling of a world completely destroyed and gone mad. I had wondered about the lack of dead bodies in the previous volumes, and while we do finally see some graves and evidence of dead people, there still seems to be less of them around than there should be. It makes for a creepy landscape, with the washed-out evidence of the tsunami covering every detail:



Mochizuki delivers another striking moment when Ako and Nimura are traveling through a forest. Unlike the quickly crumbling man-made infrastructure, the trees and plants seem relatively untouched, demonstrating man's relative impermanence in the big view:



It's a beautiful moment, but one that is quickly interrupted by more life-threatening events.

I've really enjoyed this series, and it seems Mochizuki has a plan for what he's doing, rather than just throwing danger at the characters. I don't know how well it will work out when the series is complete (that is, when I've read the complete series), but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Mindgame and Inland Empire: More movies I don't understand

These movies have little in common, except that I watched them close together, and I'm still trying to recover.

Mindgame
Japan, 2004
Directed by Masaaki Yuasa

Man oh man, is this a crazy movie. It's an anime feature from Studio 4°C, the guys behind cool works like Memories, Spriggan, and the recent adaptation of Tekkon Kinkreet. It's a fascinating, hallucinatory, overwhelming visual treat, even if I didn't know what was going on. The animation style is pretty unique, more like European comics than the usual manga style in most anime:



But still pictures are deceptive; you really have to see this stuff in motion to appreciate it. The backgrounds expand and move around the characters, and while those characters look "flat", they often turn and move in amazingly detailed ways, sometimes stretching into crazy, exaggerated figures:



And occasionally cutting to photo-quality images of the characters that are graphically manipulated and jerkily animated:



The story involves a young manga artist named Nishi (apparently named after the creator of the manga the movie was based on) who is in love with a childhood friend named Myon. He goes with her to a sushi restaurant owned by her father and run by her sister, and they are all rudely interrupted by a couple of gangsters who show up to collect some debts. [Oh yeah, SPOILERS her, I guess]. One of the gangsters is a crazy, baldheaded soccer player (he's wearing a jersey and clutching a ball), and he snaps, attempting to rape Myon and killing Nishi in a particularly gruesome fashion. Nishi wakes up in the afterlife and has a conversation with God, who can't seem to hold a single form for more than a few seconds. Here's one form, although there are probably a hundred others, from cartoons to photos to weird blobs of who-knows-what:



After replaying his death over and over, God sends Nishi away to oblivion, but he doesn't want to go, so he runs to a different portal, managing to get back into his body just before dying. He seizes the day, turns the tables, and escapes with Myon and her sister. They get into a crazy car chase that ends with them flying off a bridge and getting swallowed by a whale. Hey, why not?

Most of the rest of the movie is spent in the belly of the whale, where they meet an old guy who has been trapped there for thirty years. He's built a good life with the various stuff that has been swallowed, so they spend most of the rest of the movie hanging out with him there and doing crazy stuff like dancing and making art. But eventually they hatch a plan to escape, leading to a climactic scene that involves them running for dear life across the surface of the water and out of the whale's mouth, with all sorts of crazy imagery flashing across the screen and through their psyches. It's an amazing scene, and it feels like it last for 10 or 15 minutes, all at a frantic running pace.

As I mentioned, the animation is just incredible, a sensory barrage seemingly featuring everything the animators could come up with. Bright colors, distorted characters, the aforementioned photo-manipulation, and an incredible soundtrack. One particularly beautiful sex scene sees the characters melt into intertwining splotches of ink or paint and dance about:



Wow.

I don't know if I understand it very well (it might have to do with discovering dormant creativity/living life to its fullest before it's too late, or something like that), but it's an amazing experience.

Unfortunately, it's not too easy to get a hold of; it's never been released in the U.S. I had to get an import DVD on Ebay. While googling for the above images, I found this site, where you can supposedly watch the whole thing online, but I haven't tested it. So check it out, if you can find it. I've never seen anything like it.
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Inland Empire
2006
Directed by David Lynch

I always have trouble understanding David Lynch movies, sometimes to the detriment of the film. What the hell was going on in Lost Highway, anyway? But there's something about his style that makes him impossible to ignore; his movies have that quality that draws you in and won't let you look away. This one is a bit tough to weather though; it's a good three hours long, and it's as impenetrable as anything he's done (that I've seen, anyway).

The story, as it were, involves Laura Dern's actress character working on a movie and confusing it with reality. But there's lots of other weird stuff; before we even get to that plot, Lynch spends a good fifteen minutes on scenes of Polish gangster-types and prostitutes, along with a girl crying while watching a sitcom in which three people in donkey costumes (with clothes over the top) sit around an apartment spouting non sequitur dialogue. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. As Dern gets more and more confused, the movie devolves into sequences of her wandering through corridors (of her unconscious?) and witnessing strange events. She seems to be playing at least three different characters, or different versions of the same character: the actress, the role she's playing, and a third version who shows up later with bruises all over her face, talking to a guy in an office about how she violently fended off various men's assaults. We also see Dern watching a group of young women sitting around and commiserating with each other about men and occasionally breaking out into choreographed dance numbers. And then there are the various scenes of Polish men and prostitutes which seem to have nothing to do with the rest of the story.

I have a theory about what the movie is about, but I could be completely wrong. [SPOILERS here, I guess]. I think Dern is actually a mental projection of the woman watching the donkey show (har har) at the beginning, and she has lost her husband, possibly due to infidelity on her part. She imagines herself as a well-off actress acting in a glammed-up version of her life. The young women are probably other aspects of her psyche, and the scenes of Polish people probably have to do with her fantasies about why her Polish husband left her. [end SPOILERS].

So that's what I think, but I'm probably wrong. That's the little bit of sense I was able to make of the assemblage of strange scenes, creepy sounds, and bizarre imagery. It's pretty arresting; Lynch uses freaky music to great effect, adding an intense, surreal feeling to scenes that might just be odd in anyone else's hands. He also uses lots of jump scares, with sudden flashes, jangling sounds, or characters screaming at the camera. It's crazy stuff, but with the length of this movie, it gets exhausting. I was certainly ready for it to be over well before we actually got there.

But there's some really good stuff too, especially Dern's performance. She effectively portrays all the different versions of her character, and does a really convincing job as an actor playing a role. There's a scene in which she rehearses the script with her costar that reminded me of Naomi Watts' audition in Mulholland Drive. Lynch really knows how to draw great performances out of his actors.

So, crap, see it if you're a Lynch fan, I guess, but if you were annoyed by the craziness of Mulholland Drive, steer well clear of this one; it amps that sort of thing to a near-unbearable degree.

(Oh yeah, I should also mention Dern's apparent death scene, in which a couple homeless people spend ten minutes conversing about bus schedules over her body. Or the bit when she hangs out with whores and makes faces at another version of herself from across the street. Or hell, pretty much the whole movie. Jeez.)
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So that's my recent movie watching that I had to talk about. I should be able to get back to some actual comics stuff sometime soon. Really!

Solicitationary blatherings: Image, December 2007

Man, lots of good stuff from Image this month (if "this month" is December):



INFINITE HORIZON #1 - This looks interesting: a reimagining of The Odyssey in the near future, with soldiers trying to make their way home after a war in the Middle East. With political overtones, maybe. It's written by Gerry Duggan, with art by Phil Noto. I don't know much about Duggan, but I like Noto's art a lot, and I've been waiting for him to get paired with a good writer and turn out something really cool. Maybe this will be the one.



HAWAIIAN DICK VOL. 1: BYRD OF PARADISE TP - I've been curious about Hawaiian Dick, especially in light of the upcoming ongoing series, so this trade might be a chance for me to get caught up.



HAWAIIAN DICK #2 - Speak of the devil. We'll see if I get this or not. I'll probably wait for a trade at least, especially since previous incarnations of the series were notoriously late.



BRAWL #3 - I'm looking forward to this. I think this one is the last issue, but who knows, maybe they'll keep going.



THE NEXT ISSUE PROJECT #1: FANTASTIC COMICS #24 - This is the first book in a project that aims to revive (or at least tell new stories using) old characters that are now in the public domain. Working on this issue: Joe Casey, Tom Scioli, Howard Chaykin, Fred Hembeck, Ashley Wood, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Mike Allred, among others. That's a hell of a lineup. I'm curious as to what will be done with Stardust, a character drawn by the recently-championed Fletcher Hanks. Is that the one Allred is doing? I hope he goes nuts with the demented sort of stories that Hanks used to tell.



NYC MECH, VOL. 2: BETA LOVE TP - I've never read any of the NYC Mech comics, but I like the look of them, so I suppose I could give them a try. I should probably go with one or both of the 24seven trades though.



THE OVERMAN #1 - This seems like it might be an interesting series (something about a future hitman), but I don't know anything about the creators, and that is one weird-ass cover. What's going on with his mouth? Looks like a wait for the trade and see if I hear anything good.



SUBURBAN GLAMOUR #4 -I like the covers on this series. I still haven't decided if I'm going to buy monthlies or wait for the trade, if I get it at all. Hell, I still need to read Phonogram.



PAX ROMANA #2 -Part 2 of Jonathan Hickman's time travel series. Actually, I just started reading the manga series Samurai Commando, and it seems to have a similar premise. I'm sure Hickman will come up with a crazy twist on it though, and it will have his cool art style as well. I can't wait.



A RED MASS FOR MARS #1 -And another Jonathan Hickman series starts, but he's only writing this one. Art is provided by Ryan Bodenheim, with whom I'm not familiar. Is anyone? This one looks like a sci-fi series, and I imagine it will be interesting.



SPECIAL FORCES #4 - This has got to be the best solicitation text of the month: "This issue is absolutely not about oil! It's about freedom! Anyone who says this comic is about oil hates freedom!" God, I love Kyle Baker. I can't wait to read this series.



KILLING GIRL #5 -Uh oh. Toby Cypress is replacing Frank Espinosa on this series as the artist for the final issue (or is it more than that?). Espinosa was one of the main reasons I was reading it, so I hope it doesn't suddenly suck at the very end. We'll see...



MADMAN VOL. 3 TP -This collects #12-20 of the Dark Horse series, along with a special issue from 2001. That includes the "Exit of Dr. Boiffard" and "G-Men from Hell" stories, which are both excellent. Plus, the introduction of Mr. Gum, which led to the Atomics! Check it out, if you haven't read it before.



MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #7 - Looks like the end of the "Madman in space" story. I'm loving the relaunch of the series; Mike Allred seemingly can do no wrong with me. I'm not sure what else to say, other than that I love the little bar on the left side of the cover with the little character illustrations.



CASANOVA, VOL. 1: LUXURIA TP - Ah, the cheaper paperback version of the first volume of the awesome series. I highly recommend it, so check it out if you haven't already.



GLISTER #3 -Looks like I'm on board for this charming series. It's lots of fun. And that's all I have to say.
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And that's everything for Image. I should have one more look at solicits, from the "other" category of publishers. And other stuff, so keep reading!

Solicitationary blatherings: Marvel, December 2007

Looks like Marvel's doing the bare minimum to keep my interest. Here's what little catches my eye from their solicits:



MARVEL ILLUSTRATED: THE ILIAD #1 (of 8) - The newest entry in the Marvel Illustrated line. I haven't picked up any of these, since I haven't heard anything positive about them, and they look fairly bland whenever I glance through an issue. This one will probably be the same. It's too bad; it could have been an interesting project. The cover on this one cracks me up, with all the weird facial expressions. And Beardy McHeadband in the upper right appears to be doing some sort of behind-the-back move with a spear. Hey, who wants to bet the next project after this one is The Odyssey? Any takers?



SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #6 - I love the cute cover by Chris Eliopoulos, artist on the Franklin Richards books. I have only bought one issue of this anthology series (the one featuring the Agents of Atlas), but I'll probably pick up others here and there. This one might be a contender.



HOWARD THE DUCK #3 (of 4) - Hey, Juan Bobillo drawing She-Hulk again! This series looks fun; I might just pick up a collected version.



MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #4 - I'm becoming less and less interested in buying this series the more I see of it. The only thing that looks worth reading is the Stuart Immonen Hellcat story, and it'll probably be like five pages in each issue. I guess I'll see tomorrow, when the first issue comes out, but I don't expect to buy it.



HULK VS. FIN FANG FOOM ONE-SHOT - Who knows what the deal is with this one; it appears to be a standalone fight story. It's written by Peter David, with the artist "TBA". I hope that doesn't mean Rob Liefeld. I might check it out if it's illustrated by someone I like; it's always fun to see Hulk fight a dragon (who wears purple underpants).



MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL - This looks like an interesting book, with a gorgeous Frazier Irving cover that looks strangely familiar. Has it been used elsewhere? Also of note: a story by blogger extraordinaire and manga expert Shaenon Garrity!



IRON MAN: ENTER THE MANDARIN #4 (of 6) - I'm loving the art on this book. I will almost certainly buy the collected version.



IMMORTAL IRON FIST #12 - Is this storyline done yet? I really want to buy the second collection.



RUNAWAYS #29 - Ooh, looks like Gert's parents find out about her death! I foresee drama. This book is late, isn't it? Hurry it up, Whedon! Or Ryan, whoever's causing the delay.



OMEGA: THE UNKNOWN #3 (of 10) - Holy crap, this looks awesome. I'm waiting for a collection of this, but it's going to be hard to pass up, with artwork like this. It's amazing to me how much more appealing this style is to me than the likes of David Finch or Steve McNiven. Give me exaggerated cartooniness instead of over-rendered "realism" any day.



PUNISHER #53 - I love this cover; simple and effective. People might be afraid to open the comic though.



CRIMINAL VOL. 2: LAWLESS TPB - Here's the collection of the second story of this excellent series, if you haven't been following it monthly. It's really good (so far), and you don't have to have read the first volume, so feel free to jump on here if you want.
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And that's all. Less and less each month, it seems. Eh, that's fine with me. I think that's it for me for today, but I should have something or other up tomorrow. Besides any other solicitations that I feel like talking about. Hasta!

Solicitationary Blatherings: December 2007

Here's a look at the solicits for stuff DC is releasing in December. You can go here for the full list and all the relevant information.

DC:



All-Star Superman #10 - Oh yeah, it's always good to see this on the schedule. That's a beautiful cover, with some really nice coloring details and textures. I can't wait to read it.



Bat Lash #1 - I don't normally follow western comics, but I'm interested in this for Sergio Aragones' writing (along with Peter Brandvold, whoever that is) and John Severin's art. We'll see if it's worth reading.



Batman #672 - I'm dropping this book after the current arc ends, but I suppose it's possible that I could pick it up again. This issue is supposed to have more in the story about the impostor Batmen, which is an interesting plot. I'll have to try to remain strong and not get it.



Batman: False Faces HC - I wasn't aware of these stories, which were written by Brian K.
Vaughan and illustrated by various superhero artist types. Does anyone know if they are any good? BKV's pre-Y: The Last Man work (The Hood, Swamp Thing) is not always that great, and I'm really not that interested in Batman stories, so I'll probably pass, especially with the extra price of a hardcover.



The Spirit #13 - I think this is the first post-Darwyn Cooke issue, and it's like #7, with stories by several creators, including Gail Simone, Michael Golden, and Eduardo Risso. I don't know if I'll keep buying after Cooke leaves, but I'll probably get this issue and the first one or two of the Aragones/Evanier run, at least.



JLA: Kid Amazo TPB - I didn't get this when it recently came out in the pages of JLA: Classified, but I didn't see much in the way of good reviews. Anyone who has read the whole thing, is it worth reading? I like Peter Milligan, but yes, he is pretty inconsistent, and this might be on the lower end of his quality spectrum. Somebody inform me!



Tales of the New Gods TPB - I don't know if I'm especially interested in New Gods stories from anybody other than Jack Kirby, but these are probably some of the better stories that have been written, from the likes of Mark Evanier, John Byrne, Walt Simonson, Steve Rude, Frank Miller, and Art Adams. Can anyone tell me if this would be worth reading?

CMX:



Zombie Fairy volume 1 - This is the first comic that comes from DC's much-celebrated collaboration with Flex Comix, and it seems like it might be interesting; something about a 400-year-old Chinese girl coming back from the dead and getting into crazy antics. The cover reminds me of the hopping vampires I've seen in weird Chinese movies like Mr. Vampire, so maybe this will have some of that sort of strangeness.



Presents volume 2 - I don't know if this horror series will be any good, but it seems crazy. This volume involves an evil Santa Claus and the Grim Reaper. Fun? Maybe.



Variante volume 2 - More freakiness about the girl with the demon arm, now with a more cheesecakey cover! Ditto the last entry; I don't know if this will be any good, but it looks interesting.



Gon volume 3 - Gon is always fun. And this version is cheap, at only $5.99 per volume. I should pick one of them up sometime.

Wildstorm:



The Programme #6 (of 12) - I'm digging this series (the third issue comes out this week!), so I hope it continues to be good. Not sure what to make of that cover though.

Vertigo:



Army@Love #10 - I've dropped this series to wait for the trade, but I had to point out the great cover.



DMZ #26 - Ditto. This cover is beautiful.



Fables #68 - Ditto again. Man, James Jean is awesome.



Jack of Fables #18 - Probably soon to be another ditto. Brian Bolland!



Northlanders #1 - The debut of Brian Wood's new series about Vikings, which I'm fairly excited about. Interestingly, it looks like it'll have a political component, comparing parallels to modern events. After DMZ, Local, Demo, and other books, I trust Wood, and I bet this will be pretty awesome.



The Vinyl Underground #3 - I'm interested in this series, but it's at the point where I don't know if I'll have anything to say until I read some of it. So I'll just say that the cover (by Sean Phillips) is nice.



Incognegro GN - Another entry in the recent run of Vertigo graphic novels that seem to be going in a bit different direction than they are known for. It's about black reporters from the northern United States going undercover as whites in the lynch-happy early 20th century South. Might be worth a read.



Doom Patrol volume 6: Planet Love TPB - I have all the issues of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol (although I haven't finished reading them yet), and they're awesome. This finishes the collections of his run, so hopefully DC will get around to collecting Flex Mentallo!



El Diablo TPB - A collection of the miniseries from several years ago, by Brian Azzarello and Danijel Zezelj. I like Azzarello's writing, but I've never read this one. I suppose I could pick it up.



Fight for Tomorrow TPB - Another collection of a miniseries from a few years ago, this time by Brian Wood and Denys Cowan. It's about martial arts, I guess. I know Wood kind of turned a corner a few years ago, so this is probably different from his more recent stuff, but it still might be worth a read. I should also point out the beautiful cover by Jo Chen; I love those splashes of paint.
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And I think that's everything that gets my attention. Lots of stuff, really. Marvel should have their solicits tomorrow, so I'll talk about them then. Later!